The Kings and Ducks have always been separated by much more than a 30-mile stretch of Interstate 5.

The teams have never made the playoffs in the same season. When one is winning, the other is rebuilding, and perhaps never has the canyon between the teams been wider than in the last couple seasons.

The teams meet tonight at Staples Center, and arrive at very different places, both on and off the ice.

The Ducks, barring catastrophe, are headed to the playoffs for a fourth consecutive season. Their general manager, Brian Burke, has the authority to spend as much as it takes to build a winning roster right now, even if it means frequent roster juggling to get the team under the NHL-mandated $56.7 million salary cap.

Dean Lombardi’s Kings are likely to miss the playoffs for a sixth consecutive season and didn’t get above the salary-cap “floor” of $40 million until late in training camp. Lombardi says that building a long-term winner will require him to spend big in the next few years in order to lock up his core of young players.

Different teams, different philosophies. Which strategy is better depends entirely on one’s perspective.

“I don’t think there’s any one model you can (look at and) say, `This is how it’s done,”‘ Burke said.

Ducks fans can take great pride in “the now.” The Ducks won the Stanley Cup in 2006-07 and have a deep, talented roster that includes two of the NHL’s elite defensemen, Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger, a career 500-goal scorer in Teemu Selanne and a playoff MVP goalie in Jean-Sebastien Giguere.

The Ducks, after an early wobble, are again considered Cup contenders. Under Burke, they’ve had a highly enviable three-year run, during which they finished with no fewer than 98 points each season.

Burke’s plan has worked, but is the end in sight? In training camp, the Ducks had to trade defensemen Sean O’Donnell and Mathieu Schneider just to get under the cap, and the decision to send prospect Bobby Ryan to the minors to start the season was also motivated, in part, by the Ducks’ need to keep payroll down.

Looking ahead to next season, the Ducks have committed almost $27 million to five players: Giguere, Pronger, Ryan Getzlaf, Chris Kunitz and Corey Perry, leaving $30 million for 18 players, roughly.

That estimate assumes that the salary cap rises or stays at its current level, a shaky proposition given that the cap is already at a high level and the unsteady North American economy.

“There’s only one way to not have cap problems, and that’s to not have a competitive team,” Burke said. “You can have a competitive team below the cap, but almost all the teams that are in contention have cap issues. That’s the headache that comes with success, and we’ll gladly take that headache.”

At least the Ducks have the present to enjoy. The Kings are focused mainly on hopes and projections.

Since his hiring in 2006, Lombardi has set out to draft and trade for a core of young players, develop them within the system and sign them to long-term contracts before they become free agents.

Important pieces such as Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar, Patrick O’Sullivan and Matt Greene have signed multi-year contracts. Others, most notably Jack Johnson, remain to be signed to long-term deals.

Lombardi is working within a $40 million ownership-imposed cash budget this season, but it fits his plan. The Kings have a salary-cap figure of roughly $45 million this season, but already have committed roughly $40 million to 18 players for next season and still must sign Johnson and two goaltenders.

The Kings should start to contend within the next two years, or else Lombardi is unlikely to see his plan through to its conclusion.

The Kings are going through lean times right now, in terms of payroll and wins, but one day hope to be in the Ducks’ shoes, even if that brings its own challenges.

“We’ll get to that point where we’re reloading with young players, too,” Burke said. “Dean’s done a masterful job. Their day is coming.”

NHL honor: Forwards Getzlaf, Perry and Selanne, who produced a total of 28 points in four games as the Ducks posted a 3-0-1 record, have been named co-recipients of the NHL’s `First Star’ award for the week ending Sunday.

Rich Hammond was a high school senior when the Rams left town in 1995, and now he's their beat writer for the Southern California News Group. A native of L.A., Rich broke in at the Daily Breeze as a college freshman and also has covered USC, the Kings, the Lakers and the Dodgers. He still loves sports and telling stories. Don't take the sarcastic tweets too seriously.

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